Brandon Staley watches the Chargers play before being fired. (Courtesy of Twitter)

As it stands, eight NFL teams remain in contention for the Super Bowl; likewise, a whopping eight teams have fired their head coach this season. While some of the firings, like that of the Chargers’ Brandon Staley, were a long time coming, others have left fans and players shocked. For instance, when Robert Kraft and the Patriots announced that Bill Belichick had “mutually agreed” to part ways with the team, it marked, to many, the end of the NFL’s most dominant dynasty — one helmed by Belichick for the past 24 years. So what led the team to fire the man chiefly in charge of making its hands six rings richer? A deeper dive shows that this firing is emblematic of a worrying pattern across the league: teams with subpar rosters turn in subpar seasons, while proven head coaches get caught in the crossfire.

The NBA’s San Antonio Spurs are currently 8-34, on pace to turn in one of the worst seasons in recent memory. However, if you floated around the idea of firing Gregg Popovich, you’d be laughed at by NBA fans and media personalities alike. Meanwhile, when Belichick’s team limped to a 4-13 finish, the team’s worst since he became HC in 2000, he got the ax. If you were to ask anyone why the Spurs have been so dismal, every single person would point to a roster that, Victor Wembanyama aside, is capable of giving onlookers an eyesore. So why is it that Belicheck was fired when the same can be said for a Patriots roster that ranked 31st in points and first downs, 30th in yards and featured almost impressively bad special teams play?

The bottom line is that a coach shouldn’t be punished for having to make do with a team without a clear QB1, battered RB and O-Line rooms, horrific WR play and a defense missing two of its premier players in Matthew Judon and Christian Gonzalez. It must be conceded that Belichick is to blame for some of these issues — as General Manager, his recent drafts have been puzzling at best (Cole Strange and N’Keal Harry in the first round?), his offensive coaching staff hirings have baffled (Matt Patricia at OC?) and many of his free agency moves have backfired (see Jonnu Smith’s $50 million contract). In many ways, GM Belichick dealt HC Belichick an unwinnable hand, and he lost his job because of it.

That said, Belichick’s questionable roster construction can not be lumped together with his coaching. The Krafts could have relieved Belichick of his GM’ing duties, and rightfully so, without letting go of him as a coach. The Patriots defense was top 10 against the pass and the run and looked every bit as solid as it did during the Pats’ Super Bowl runs of old. While a player may regress with age, the Patriots’ defensive performance proves that the same can’t be said for coaches. And, with a capable roster and a proven OC in Josh McDaniels in 2021, the Patriots were just fine on that side of the ball. With $70 million in cap space and the third overall draft pick, the Patriots could be able to retool their offense in a hurry. Had it only relinquished Belichick’s GM status, the team would be rolling into 2024 with the greatest coach of all time, minus his Achilles heel. However, as we’ve seen time and time again, an undeniably brilliant coaching mind has been thrown under the bus because his personnel produced lackluster results; as Belichick said in his farewell address, “players win games in the NFL.”

Belichick isn’t the only victim of this type of firing, with Pete Carroll and Mike Vrabel being thrown by the wayside this month after failing to bring their teams to the playoffs. For Carroll, the man who brought the Seahawks their first Super Bowl ring and was beloved by players and fans, the news was astonishing. The team narrowly missed the playoffs this year after making the Wild Card the year prior; going into 2022, the team was expected to tank. However, Geno Smith had a career renaissance under center and Carroll’s club achieved a winning record in back-to-back years. Under Carroll, the Seahawks fast-tracked their post-Russell Wilson rebuild and competed with the league’s juggernauts despite a shoddy offensive line, QB and defense. Carroll’s recompense? A demotion to an “advisory role.”

It’s an all-too-familiar story for Vrabel, who transformed the ever-middling Tennessee Titans into a contender during his tenure, before the team fell back down to Earth last year. One glance at the team’s roster paints a pretty clear picture of what changed from Vrabel’s early years to his final ones; it lost one of the league’s top wideouts in AJ Brown, its revamped offensive line proved inferior to its original and its young defensive players failed to break out. The same team that went 59-85 in the nine years preceding Vrabel’s tenure went 54-45 under the former linebacker, but it was an underwhelming roster that eventually did him in; I have no doubt that Vrabel will prove that he was not the problem with the team he coaches next.

Of course, perplexing coaching decisions can sometimes turn out to be for the best. The Patriots, Seahawks and Titans could each bounce back next year with a regime in order, as proven as their predecessors were. Refer back to the NBA, where Dwayne Casey was fired the year after he won Coach of the Year, only for the Raptors’ to win their first championship the year after his departure. Ultimately, we can’t know what goes on behind closed doors; we can’t perfectly measure a coach’s ability to bring out the best in his players, nor can we always assess whether a coach “has the locker room.” Moreover, sometimes a change of scenery proves to be all a team needs to actualize its potential. Whether that’s the case for these teams remains to be seen, but nothing can take away from the accomplishments of Belichick, Carroll and Vrabel — I have no doubt that they’ll prove their value in whatever venture comes next.